Jadu Heart - I’m A Kid

Kishi Bashi - The Ballad of Mr. Steak

Mt. Joy - She Wants To Go Dancing

The Neighbourhood - Softcore

Parachute Youth - Can’t Get Better Than This

SPELLLING - Under the Sun

FM Belfast - underwear

Great question, I’m interested to see what others come up with. I loved Zaba, really liked the second album, but … yeah they fell off hard for me.

Let’s see what my tired brain can scare up from that part of my music mind…

Alt-J is the closest band I can come up with right now. Check out their song Tessellate. Be warned the singer’s vocal style is … unique and very hit-or-miss.

Geographer is pretty close too, check out their albums Animal Shapes and Myth. Original Sin, Kites, and Blinders are individual standouts for me.

Starfucker’s (I think they go by STRFKR now?) first album, self-titled, sits in an adjacent space in my head. I really liked their second album Reptilians, too. They’re more “indie,” more synthy than Glass Animals. German Love and Isabella of Castile are two standout tracks IMO.

Bonobo scratches that itch for me too, it’s downtempo chilled out beats, slick production, but without the fun vocal play from Zaba. Black Sands is one of my desert island albums.

Keeping with the primate theme, how about Gorillaz? Especially their first two albums.

I think Massive Attack might be worth checking out too, but I confess they’re in a bit of a blind spot for me so I don’t have specific recommendations.

Happy listening!

Locket EP by crumb has that “wet” downtempo sound like Zaba, though the singer has a very different vibe

God, I used to love this album. Pure sex music.

Public Memory. They’re a little on the hauntology side though.